Simple
by I'll get to it.eventually
Summary: It was supposed to be simple. It was supposed to be quick, just in and out, grab the crown and leave. It wasn't.
1. Chapter 1

It was supposed to be simple.

It was supposed to be quick, just in and out, grab the crown and leave.

The winter court of the fae had started kidnaping children left and right, and to restore balance, the Guardians just had to steal their crown. Without it, they'd be unable to get onto the mortal plane for a good, long time. The world would be put to rights. The court was in complete disarray, so it should have been an easy steal.

They'd even taken precautions, only sending Jack and Bunny in. The fae seemed to think Jack was a lost winter faerie*, so they would hopefully not recognize him as a Guardian if they got caught before getting the crown. After, all bets were off.

But that was why Bunny was there: He was the fastest Guardian, and he'd be able to get the crown and get out quickly, if worst came to worst. Once the crown was stolen, the fae would feel it, and they'd immediately try to attack the thieves, so Bunny could outrun them and get to their exit portal before they came out in force. Jack would have to follow as quickly as he could, but he was fast, and would be faster in the court of winter, where his powers would presumably be at their height. He would be able to keep up.

It had gone well, at first. They'd opened a portal that would stay where it was and only let natives of the mortal plane through. It had taken Bunny and North weeks to create that, but it would hold for almost two hours before collapsing. If they didn't get out of the fae plane in that time...well, they just had to get out before the portal collapsed.

In the beginning, the plan had gone off without a hitch, Bunnymund remembers. They had said their goodbyes, promised to be careful, promised to look after each other, removed a few elves from their persons, promised to be careful again, gone over the plan for the nth time, promised to look after each other, and had _finally_ gotten to leave after all but swearing an oath in blood that they'd both be _fine._ It wasn't like they'd never done anything more dangerous-it was simple thievery, and the fae were rather slow and bloated from the energy they were stealing from their kidnaped children. Even when the fae were chasing them, it would be child's play to escape.

Jack had given him a smirk and proposed a race through the portal, and they'd tumbled out panting behind a statue in the corner of a grand courtyard.

It had been beautiful, ice sculptures and cold iron** all over. Everything was silvery blue or dark gray, and there were gorgeous designs of snow and frost spreading from a fountain forever frozen in the center of the ice gardens. There were statues dotting the edge of the courtyard, and gardens of ice-made flowers and fern-like frost forming paths with icy iron accents and benches.

If Bunny hadn't been more keen on living things than death and cold, he imagined that this would be the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

As it was, the courtyard was lonely and abandoned and looked to Bunny like ruins of a great kingdom. He supposed that was what they were, since the winter fae had lost themselves in their lust for power. They had no time for their beautiful patterns in the ice anymore, and neither did Bunny.

"Hey, let's see if we can find the throne room," he'd murmured to Jack. He had been wary of breaking up the deathly stillness of the abandoned courtyard.

At first, he hadn't been sure if Jack had heard him. But then Jack had silently been blown forward, landing in the center of the gardens, right next to the fountain. He'd seemed vacant, utterly mesmerized by the designs in the ice.

"Oi! Jack! We don't have time for this! Come on, let's get moving!" He'd raised his voice to be heard, beginning to step forward to catch up.

Jack had not responded, dropping his staff and reaching forward with one hand to touch the fountain. Bunny remembers that he'd been slightly worried at this point, but not as much as he would be soon.

The instant Jack had touched the fountain, it had lit up the whole courtyard. The patterns in the frost had glowed, showing a completely new and breathtakingly beautiful sight. Every detail was sharper, more defined, more lovely than it had been a moment before. Bunny hadn't trusted a bit of it.

He'd sprinted forward as quickly as he could, tackling Jack to the ground. The only thing that had mattered in that moment was getting him _away_ from that fountain.

Jack had looked up at him, startled, and blinked for a few seconds before comprehension had dawned. "Sorry," he'd mumbled, "I wanted to see if it would..."

H'd wanted to see if it would react with his magic. Even now, Bunnymund can only hypothesize, but his best guess is that the fountain had only registered that winter was touching it, not that a spirit instead of a faerie was, and since Jack was the literal manifestation of winter, it served as an amplifier and a connection to...well...to himself. The greater amalgamation of power that he represented. Whatever.

After Jack had shaken himself free of his daze and reported no more inclinations to activate unknown and untrustworthy magic, they'd moved on, cautiously and quietly. They'd wandered the coldly beautiful halls of the winter palace, and they'd easily escaped the notice of those fae that they'd met. Jack simply had to tell them to use another hallway and they'd leave, and Bunny could easily hide behind one of the ornate decorations and pillars that littered the palace until then.

After what had seemed like forever of hurried, quiet wandering, they'd found a gand set of green glass doors. They hadn't been made of ice, which had been pretty much their only distinguishing feature from the rest of the castle.

"Huh, what lies beyond the Green Glass Door?" Jack had joked. Bunny hadn't gotten the joke, but the tone indicated that Jack was joking more to loosen a potentially tense situation than because he wanted Bunny to get it.

They'd slowly, gingerly opened the doors. The room had been huge and airy, with swooping arches made of teal glass and ice, and a single throne at the end of the room and a hallway of smaller thrones leading up to it. All of these were made of blues and teals, transparent and ornately carved, and there were icicles hanging from literally every surface.

Snowdrifts were built up in the corners, and Bunny had wondered whether they were the fae equivalent of cobwebs.

The walls had windows, large and tall, with beautiful winter vistas showing out of all of them. It looked like a place that was waiting for something.

Well, something had come.

"The crown's prolly near the throne over there," he'd whispered to Jack. They'd advanced through the center of the empty room quietly, past row upon row of small thrones that seemed to watch them as they passed. The entire world seemed to be holding its breath as they approached the grand, detailed throne.

"I think I see it," Jack had muttered under his breath, accounting for Bunny's superior hearing. Normally Bunny would have been able to see it before Jack, but they had realized nearly as soon as the fae had started to be a problem that Jack's power was similar to theirs. It was likely that just being in their realm was enhancing his abilities, including natural abilities like sight.

Soon, Bunny had been able to see the crown as well. It was deceptively small, a little white and blue thing accented in some places by the same iron that had been a constant since they'd entered the castle. It had spiky, thin designs like icicles sprouting out of its curved surface, and little metallic highlights in strategic places to make it look even whiter.

"Right, they might not notice if I touch it, but they'll know once it leaces the room, so we'll trade off at the door, alright?" Jack had murmured.

That had been the plan. Bunny nodded.

As Jack had ascended the steps up to the throne, the entire room went from watching and waiting to unbearably tense at this intruder daring to approach its center of power. Bunny could have sworn there was an electric magical buildup in the air, and it got more intense the nearer Jack got.

Finally, after ten seconds and a million years, Jack had reached the final step and stretched his hand out to the seat of the throne, where the crown lay nestled in a tiny pillow of snow.

He'd picked it up, and just as he did, a wind blew up in the room, centering on Jack, the crown, and the throne. Every corner of the room had lit up, just like in the courtyard when Jack had touched the fountain. It had created an eerie, otherworldly effect, exciting and terrifying, but more than anything it was awe-inspiringly, achingly beautiful.

The two of them had hurried to the door, and Bunny had the crown before the glow had faded. He'd begun running, and Jack had flown beside him.

It had taken roughly ten seconds for the first faerie to arrive.

It had shot ice at them, but it had been sloppy and uncontrolled, as it was unused to the new powers it had gotten when the fae had kidnaped so many children. It had missed both Guardians by a mile, and done no real damage to the wall behind them.

"Hey, Bunny, wanna play a game?" Jack had challenged.

Bunny had snorted, thinking that Jack was clearly insane, but had listened. How he wishes now that he hadn't.

"Farther you get before getting hit, the better! The person with the most distance at once when we get out wins!" Jack had said in a fake announcer's voice.

Bunny had been exasperated by the young Guardian, but couldn't resist the challenge within himself.

"Sure, mate. Don't come crying to me when you lose!" He'd yelled back, picking up his speed.

More and more fae had come out, in front of them, behind them, out of corners and nooks they hadn't seen before. They'd dodged behind decorations, between fae, through rooms and gardens, and Jack had announced each and every time one of them got hit with one of the wild, uncoordinated attacks.

"Ah! That might've hurt if it were a real attack! I'm winning now, Cottontail!"

"Whoops! Nice shot, maybe next time you can sharpen that icicle."

"Gah! Do they ever end?"

Finally, finally, they'd gotten to their courtyard. They had to hurry at that point-they were about to be locked in the fae world. Almost two hours had passed, and the portal would close soon.

"Haha! Almost there, think you can beat me, Peter Rabbit?" Jack had gloated. He'd been behind, just a little, at that point. Bunny wonders if he knew, even then. But regardless of Jack's possible clairvoyance, he'd just smirked. He'd picked up the pace. He dove through the portal. He'd heard the crackle of ice magic. He'd turned around, gloatingly, to tell Jack that he'd won...

Jack wasn't there.

He saw Jack's surprised face from through the portal as ice appeared in front of him. He had seen Jack oon the wrong side of the portal. He'd seen the surprise melt off his face as Jack glanced behind himself to see the faerie who'd iced over the portal so he couldn't get to it. He'd _seen_ Jack accept what was happening. He saw Jack turn back to the portal and grin cockily, just like he always did. Just like he had when he'd asked if Bunny wanted to play a game.

He wishes, he _wishes_ he'd said no. He wishes he had said that there was no competition, that they were both getting out of there just fine and it didn't matter the order, in fact, Jack could go first. He wishes he hadn't had to watch as Jack blew frost over the glass-clear ice-the only thing he could do, as Jack wasn't capable of destroying the ice that he was supposed to create. He doesn't want to think about the last thing he'd seen before the portal closed forever.

Jack had written in the frost the very same words Bunny could see his lips forming.

"_You win! Good Ga-"_

Jack toppled forward as ice hit him in the back.

The portal snapped shut.

"_JACK!"_

"Jack!"

"Jack..."

"Jack, no, Jack, please, this is a game, a prank, like you always do, please..."

"Jack."

"..."

"..._Jack_."

He threw the damned crown to the ground.

Bunny was the Guardian of Hope. He was supposed to be hopeful. He was supposed to do anything but give in to despair like he was right now.

Then again, the Guardian of Fun wasn't supposed to play games with his life. Not like that. He wasn't supposed to be killed by the very thing he brought to the world.

_This is so wrong._

Bunny felt a sob tear through him.

That's how the Guardians had found him, no more than a half hour later. He remembered vaguely that he'd been supposed to meet them in North's place. Instead, they had to seek him out outside the workshop somewhere in the cold. In the same position he'd been for a half hour. Kneeling next to where the portal had been, crown tossed carelessly to the side. He didn't care about the stupid thing. The stupid thing _Jack had died for_.

It wasn't worth it._ It wasn't fair_.

They'd taken one look at the scene and stopped their celebratory greetings.

Bunny was kneeling on the ground, ignoring the cold.

He absently noted that he didn't even feel it. Not now.

The crown tossed into a snowbank like it didn't matter.

It didn't matter. Not as much as Jack. A thousand children could die as long as his little Jack was safe at home.

The closed portal.

The stupid portal on which Jack had written 'You win! Good Ga-'

Jack not being there, lighting up the whole world with his bright smiles, his cheerful laughs in the darkest of times.

Jack not being there because he'd written his last words on the frost, such a small, thin, barrier that anyone but Jack would have been able to break. It's almost cruel, that Jack could have lived if he'd been anything but the herald of winter.

A winter spirit, dead in the palace of winer.

Huh.

Bunny started laughing, a little hysterically. Jack always laughed. He didn't like tears, he always looked so ridiculous fluttering around with his hands flapping, begging people to stop leaking because _he didn't know what to do! Please, I can't handle crying people, ew, this is wet, what do I do with it?_

Bunny laughed at that image, too. It was a wet laugh. It sounded like a sob. If he didn't know that he was laughing, he would definitely think he was crying.

Jack wouldn't have wanted that.

Finally, Tooth asked the question everyone was wondering.

"Bunny, where is Jack? Did he go back home?"

He can hear the begging behind her question. _Please say yes, please lie, please tell me he's _safe_._

"He wanted to play a game. That _stupid idiot_ wanted to have a _race_. And then they iced over the portal, and he _wrote_ it, Tooth, he _wrote_ it. That stupid little-! _Why_?! You could have said anything, _WHY THAT?!_"

He knows he's getting hysterical...but why? Why did Jack waste his last words congratulating him? Why did he smile at him, when Bunny should have made Jack go first? Should have made him go, and then Bunny could have smashed the ice, and Tooth wouldn't be looking like he'd ripped her heart out, and Sandy wouldn't be looking down and landing on the snow next to the accursed crown, and North wouldn't be looking so confused and angry, and, and...

And there wouldn't be an empty space between Sandy and Bunny.

Suddenly, all the fire leaves Bunny.

"They iced over the portal. It was such a thin layer of ice, anyone else could have just run through it, but Jack...Jack could just look through it. He knew, strewth, he _knew_ he wasn't getting through. He frosted it over,_ he wrote his last words on it._ He wrote them on the thing that killed him, and he _smiled_ at me. He wrote about that stupid game we were playing, he said 'You win! Good-' but then he _stopped_, Tooth, he _stopped_ because they _shot_ him, he fell onto the ice and it got thick and foggy and I couldn't see if he got up or not, and the portal closed, and _he's not coming home_, Tooth. Just because we played that stupid game, we're never going to see Jack again. He never got to finish saying good game, and he _never will_."

Tooth made a noise of distress, and Baby Tooth cried out like he'd stabbed her in the gut. Both fell to the ground, and Bunny felt terrible. North's face shut down in grief, and Sandy just stared at the crown at his feet. Bunny wanted to destroy it.

"Come," North rumbled to them. "We must be preparing funeral. Jack died well, we must honor that."

There's really nothing else to do.

Sandy picked the crown up, and they all walked inside. Baby Tooth, for a heartbreaking moment, tried to fly up to Jack's shoulder for comfort, before realizing that she can never do that again. She buzzed around confusedly for a second before flying in by herself, making little grieving coos as she went.

The Wind screamed and raged, and Bunny could almost hear the voice begging and demanding and _needing_ its child back. But they couldn't help it. They couldn't bring Jack back, and that _hurt_.

The yeti and the elves fell silent as they entered. There was a feast set out, ready for a celebration that would never come. But their demeanor, Jack not being here, Tooth's quiet sobs and Baby Tooth's heartbreaking chirping spelled it all out. One of the yeti made a pained bellow, and Bunny remembered that Jack had been close to some of them, in his own way.

The funeral is a grand thing, with a coffin painstakingly carved by North from ice, and they put the crown in it.

No one wanted to see it again, and it's all they have of Jack that they were willing to give up.

They buried it deep, deep beneath North's workshop, where it will never risk melting. Where none of them have to see it again if they don't want to.

Where they can all go, if they do want to.

To save time, Bunny connected his warren to it. He knew he'd be there every day anyway.

His gravestone reads simply:

_Jack Frost_

_Beloved Guardian_

_Good Game!_

* * *

***Faerie is an offensive term. The fae don't like it, but the Guardians don't know that.**

****Bunny is wrong. The fae are hurt when they touch iron, and what he's seeing is actually Yttrium, which is a pretty cool metal itself. If it's exposed to heat, its outer layer turns into white powder, which for the purposes of the story looks like snow. It looks kind of like iron, in that it's shiny and gray, but it's actually a very rare earth element. It's used for lasers. Why Bunny does not automatically jump to this conclusion is beyond me-I mean, everyone knows Yttrium, right?**

**Okay, so I wrote this at 3:00 AM. It's not edited, I have no beta, I'll deal with it later. I...tried, at least?**

**Yeah, we'll go with that...**

**This for a long-abandoned prompt on the Kink meme:**

**The jellyfish scene from Finding Nemo, except with Jack and Bunnymund.**

"The setting can be whatever you want it to be, as an actual field of jellyfish wouldn't quite work for this. Could be a forest of dangerous plants, could be some other realm with poisonous or deadly creatures or things of some sort. Jack and Bunny find themselves stuck right in the middle of this deadly place, and Jack of course decides to make a game out of escaping, just another one of their races.  
So they take off, and the further they get without being harmed, the more Bunny actually gets into the 'game.'

"And Bunnymund wins. He makes it to the end, to where it's safe.  
"But when he looks behind himself, Jack's not there with him.

"Give me drama anons, and if this so inspires you, feel free to add more deadly games Jack has had to play with the other characters to go along with this one."

**If desired, I can add a couple more chapters and make it so that a Plot happens. I can't stand unhappy endings.**

**Thanks for the read!**


	2. Chapter 2

Years passed, but it was like days. The wound caused by Jack's loss was still as fresh as it was yesterday, as it was the day before that, as it was seven years ago. Jamie still believed. Easter still came. A weak, depressing almost-winter still came, sometimes. It was more due to Mother Nature than anything else. No one enjoyed winter anymore, it was dull and dreary and lifeless, more about misery and death than family and community and play.

Bunny hated it.

He thought the others might hate it, too.

Just after the Fae Plane Tragedy, fae from the fire court had begun stirring, possibly sensing their wintry enemies' weakness. There had been more and more visits to the mortal plane, and the Guardians had demanded to know what was going on. That had been three years ago, and they'd gotten a meeting with an ambassador of sorts not a month later.

They had all set up shop in Sandy's dreamsand island, which was the best for receiving esteemed visitors. The ambassador, who Bunny suspected wasn't really an ambassador so much as a random underling, had arrived exactly at sunset, lighting up the sky with fire.

They'd asked, politely, what was going on with the fae.

The fire faerie hadn't answered.

Instead, it had asked if they were the ones who had strengthened the winter court. Of course, the Guardians had told it that they hadn't-they hadn't, had they?

It had asked if they had given the winter court the powerful...something. The word it used was unfamiliar to all of them.

They'd said no.

It asked of they had given one of their number to the winter court.

That had hit deep.

They'd said yes.

It had announced that they were enemies of the summer court of the fae and left immediately, before they could ask what had happened or what was happening.

Later, they'd had a meeting.

"Jack is powerful. But, is powerful child. What happened to children in fae realm?" North had asked.

They'd all shuddered. No one wanted to touch that topic. No one wanted to consider that it could have happened to Jack.

When children go to the winter end of the fae realm, they are covered in ice, like a cocoon. They're trapped there, not living but not dying either, and their powers are sapped slowly until they're soulless lumps, which eventually do whither and die.

Some say that the fae eat them before that happens.

Some say even worse things.

None of them want to think of their youngest like that, all his infectious energy stolen little by little until there was just a shell that used to house Jack Frost.

Bunny wishes he'd never taken Jack up on his offer of a game. He should have let Jack win. He should have made him go through first.

They had all left shortly after that. They didn't want to think of it, but the portal couldn't be recreated and only the fae could use their crown to cross dimensional boundaries. They couldn't save Jack. They'd tried, again and again they'd tried, but they couldn't get through, and the boundaries on the fae side had already closed.

Shortly after that, the fire fae had begun to attack.

The war had spanned all the years from then to now, and today was the last battle. They were at Sandy's island, and there were huge masses of fiery fae surrounding it.

They had no chance of winning. They all knew this. But the fire fae were going to kill them if they fought back or not, so they intended to go down fighting.

Tooth had her two swords out, polished and ready for a fight. Her tooth fairies were attending everyone's jobs, spreading dreamsand and collecting teeth and continuing as if they were all going to survive this, because they couldn't afford to lose believers during the battle. They needed to be at top power.

North had his swords out, and was sharpening despite the fact that they never needed it. His yeti were running about the island, readying themselves for battle. Weapons were going everywhere, transferring from paw to paw to paw.

Sandy was animating the entire island, making the sand itself dangerous enough to slow or kill the fae. He had his whips, and a ball of ice was in his hands. Some of the last of Jack's ice they had left, but it was a weapon. If they were ever in a fight they didn't think they could win, Jack had told them, they only had to throw it as high as they could in the air and break it like one of North's snowglobes. It would serve as a distress signal and a grenade in one, calling for the wind and making an explosion of ice.

Jack had shown them once what would happen if they got some decent height on one. The spiked ball of giant icicles he'd produced had been bigger than North, and the wind had nearly blown the workshop to the ground before Jack had calmed it. It was fitting that they were using Jack's gift to them against the fae. It felt like revenge.

Bunnymund himself had spent all day tending to his boomerangs and readying his eggs for battle. He was going to go down just like he had lived: Fierce, fighting, and defending his frends and the children of the world.

Maybe, when they died, Jack would be there to greet them. Maybe he'd smile brightly and tease them for being killed by little faeries. Maybe they'd hear that energetic, mischievous laugh again.

Bunny desperately hoped so, since there was no way they were getting out of this battle alive.

There were easily thousands of fae surrounding the island, all glowing brightly enough to hurt your eyes it you looked at them too long. They didn't need belief or even a reason to attack, they had basically guaranteed that Jack had been turned into energy and consumed by the _damned winter court!_ And they blamed the Guardians for the advantage the winter court had gotten from Jack's energy, rightly so. Bunny could have saved Jack. But instead he won that _stupid game_.

The fae began stirring. Bunny signaled the others. It was time.

The first wave of fae charged at them, and Sandy threw his ball of ice into the air at them. Up and up and up it went, higher and higher into the swarm of enemies, and it _exploded_. Fae were skewered, crushed, covered in ice...some even melted the ice, which made a nice rain to dampen their flames out. The wind raged, even harder than when Jack had shown them what crushing the ice would do. Bunny wondered if it was because the wind had grieved its child for all these years, like the Guardians had. It, like them, finally has a chance for revenge. It blew out the fires of the fae, raised great waves to douse them in water, blew in snow and ice from somewhere that impaled and sputtered out its victims.

Bunny grinned and got to work, throwing, calculating angles, bouncing off sand spikes and spires to get to the _murderers_ that had _dared_ to kill Jack. It didn't even register to him that these fae were from the summer court and had nothing to do with Jack's death, he just wanted them _gone_. He wanted them to _hurt_. Maybe once he killed them they would regret hurting the youngest Guardian.

Maybe once they killed him he would get to see Jack again, to apologize, and let him win the game. Maybe, once he was dead, Jack would never lose a game again.

Vaguely he registered Tooth in her deadly dance somewhere above him and to the right, swords flashing as she cut down one faerie after another, and North off behind him bellowing orders to the yeti as he attacked.

Sandy's presence was obvious from how the island itself attacked the fae, and how he would get convenient footholds to bounce off of whenever he needed them, but he couldn't see the dream weaver anywhere.

(Jack isn't anywhere doing anything. Jack is dead.)

The whole coast was dotted with little skirmishes as yeti and eggs battled together, and Bunny heavily suspected that that's Baby Tooth over there harrying fae into distraction.

But they could only hold out for so long once the second wave arrived.

Bunny felt an egg golem get smashed first. It was nearly enough to distract him from catching his boomerangs, but not quite. His eggs, like North's yeti, can't die permanently unless the warren does, but they can still take damage.

More and more he had to jump over and off of bodies or broken stones that were restricting the island's sand from attacking. More and more those bodies weren't entirely fae bodies.

Eventually, he happened upon the other guardians. As their army got smaller and smaller, fighting was more and more restricted to pockets of helpers surrounded by fae.

North and Sandy were back-to-back, fighting with whips and swords and switching directions faster than anything. Tooth was above them, taking out fae on all sides and flying through any formations that begin to form.

Bunny is familiar with this type of fighting. Normally the odds aren't quite so bad, but he knows what they're doing. He begins to hop around the outside of their little circle of fae-cleared area, throwing his boomerangs and using Sandy's whips as transportation when he needs to get higher. He did his best to guard Tooth's back, widen their perimeter, and make sure no surprises were coming.

He saw Tooth stab a faerie through the stomach, and slash another's throat, not noticing the faerie right behind her. Quickly a boomerang made its way to the back of the faerie's head, and it was down for the count. Sandy caught a fireball that was about to hit North. North threw Sandy up higher into the air to miss a wild, fiery punch by a faerie, and Sandy used the momentum to fly up for a quick glance around, swiftly grabbing Bunny out of the way of some of the wind's ice. Bunny, in turn, uses the extra air to take out three fae with one boomerang, and know one into an entire advancing row with the other.

After the minutes of fighting turned to hours, the four remaining Guardians are the last ones left in fighting order. The remaining helpers have been sent to their homes, so that there will be someone left to carry on bringing wonder and hope to children.

Depite how much it limits their individual talents-Bunny's speed, Tooth's flight and agility, North's stamina and not-terrible agility, Sandy's ability to create localized sandstorms around him-the four of them are back-to back on the ground. It'd how they've always been, so it's how they'll go down. Together.

Missing one person.

One is as true as the other.

But once they die, they'll have eternity to make up for lost time, and that's what they'll do.

They all prepare for one last fight together.

"Let's give 'em hell," Bunny growls to his comrades.

Sandy nods, snapping his whips once in agreement.

Tooth flutters, and adds, "For Jack."

Baby Tooth squeaks between her and Bunny.

The winds howls, and Bunny swears he can hear it lamenting its child, screaming for the blood of the fae who dared take him from it.

North laughs, shouts, "For Jack!", and the charge starts.

Bunny sees a fireball coming for him, and he ducks it, yelling at Sandy on his other side to dodge. He hears a _squelch_ as Tooth or North stabs someone. There's a haze of battle over everything.

His vision is suddenly covered in fire as a faerie gets too close.

_Can't dodge, can't block, can't-_

_Looks like I'll get to be with Jack again._

_This time you're going to win, Snowflake._

* * *

**This chapter is titled WHOOPS I KILLED EVERYONE in my doc manager.**

**Umm...oops?**

**Come on, I told you everyone was gonna die, like, five times, and their deus ex machina is kind of dead.**

**Please don't hurt me...**

**...If it helps, this isn't the end of the story...**

**/runs away**

**Review please!**

**Biiiig thank you to Enzetto and RedOptics7, without whom this wouldn't exist. And all of my anons, and all my other adorable reviewers!**


	3. Chapter 3

After all that buildup, Bunny was almost disappointed when he didn't die.

Almost. But not quite.

Actually, not at all.

He was a little busy being shocked at the water being splashed in his face.

He blinked. _What?_

Some ice had frozen the fireball that had been about to hit him, melted, and neutralized the attack.

One of the attacking fae looked up, looking astonished for about half a second.

It gasped, "You're-"

It was cut off when it was hit across the face with a staff.

Then some more ice spread from an area above all the Guardians, pushing all the fae backwards. Someone in a cloak lit down in front of Bunny, gesturing at the Guardians to leave and picking Bunny and North up by the wrists. He (she?) flew upwards as the summer fae screamed at each other, embroiled in chaos.

Sandy and Tooth flew up to follow them. As the cloaked figure faltered a bit in the air, Sandy made a magic carpet to catch both North and Bunny.

The figure gave the impression of nodding at them, and dove back downwards. When it came up, it had a strange spear and Baby Tooth in its hands, and the fire fae were hopelessly trying to get out of the ice that was surrounding them.

"Come on, if we don't get out now, we never will!" It told them.

"What are you? Why are you here?" Tooth asked, attempting to flutter closer to it to get a look under its hood.

"No time for that, follow me!" The creature ordered, flying northwards. Sandy pushed his carpet to follow, and Tooth zoomed in behind them.

They flew for almost an hour, hard and fast enough that no one had time to question it. Finally, they arrived at North's workshop and landed. The creature paused for a moment before asking, "Where is the fae crown? I swear to you, if I meant harm, I would have let you die.

It's a sound point.

They all troop down to Jack's tomb. It's just as Bunny remembers: Cold, ornate, and lifeless. The creature turned to face them, and Bunny got his first decent look at it.

It was fairly short, but tall for a faerie, which Bunny suspected to be its race. It was wearing a navy cloak as dark as a winter night's sky, complete with what might have been stars or might have been snowflakes patterned on it. The hood was large and likely enchanted, because he found that he couldn't see its face no matter how hard he looked. Shadow shielded all but the vague hint of a humanoid face, with lips and a nose and a chin visible. Two ice-blue eyes glowed from the darkness, looking straight at Bunny as he continued his assessment.

The creature carried an odd cross between a scepter and a spear, with an icy hilt covered in frost patterns evolving into a wicked curved point. It was ornately decorated with jewels of all sizes and lines of dark metal like veins, but it had one 'gem' that stood out. It wasn't even a gem, really, but a gem-shaped ball of pulsating energy that glowed bright blue.

It was eerily reminiscent of the fae crown.

Bunny didn't like it.

Apparently his opinions didn't matter, though, because the creature began speaking without waiting for his thoughts.

"I bet you're all wondering why I've brought you here," it said. "I just saved all of your lives, and your helpers will probably be appearing in their places of residence once the summers realize you've gotten away and go back to their plane. In return for this favor, all of you will shut up and hear me out until I am done talking, and then I will leave. Capiche?"

Bunny exclaimed, "No, that is not okay! Why were you even there? What are you? Wh-"

"Yes, yes, we're getting to that part. Will the rest of you listen to what I have to say, then?"

The others nodded. Traitors.

"Well, to start off, I apologize for the actions of the winter fae seven years previous to now. I was not in power then as I am now, and I stopped the abductions as soon as was possible once I did gain my throne. However, my claim to the throne of the fae is still contested daily, so if you don't want the entire court going to ruin again, you'll need to give me a hand.

"I helped you because I need your help. Until I can legitimize my hold over the fae, my family is in danger. I need to recover the three relics that have always been synonymous with the ruler of the winter fae. One is the Spear of Jormungandr, which I clearly fixed by myself," it gestured with its staff, "and you kind of stole my crown-the Crown of the Jotun. I'd like that back, if you don't mind."

"What?! Mate, there is no way we're giving that back! Jack _died_ for that! You're not getting it!" Bunny shouted, taken aback. The faerie stiffened.

"Died?" It asked.

"Don't act like you don't know! He died stealing that crown, so you fae couldn't keep killing people! There is no way we're gonna just give it to you!" Bunny was furious, in its face now, though he still couldn't make out any distinguishing features besides the glowing-bright eyes.

Tooth came forward to support him.

"Bunny is right," she said, "If we give the crown back to the fae, who's to say the kidnapings won't start up again?"

The fae nodded.

"No one is. But I can give you my word, on my life and the lives of my loved ones, not only will I not allow my court to fall into disorder and chaos as it did when the previous king was killed, but once my position is safe and I am guaranteed not to get spontaneously killed, it could be arranged for you to see your lost spirit. He never did die in our realm-rather, he gained energy from it! Once I have the crown I can bring you to our realm, and I will do so once it is safe."

Somewhat suspiciously, North stepped forward to join the conversation.

"You said get three things. What is the third part?"

The faerie gave the impression of a smile.

"The challenge, of course! It would hardly be a proper adventure without a challenge. Since you've proven yourselves to be decent thieves, I need you to locate and steal back the Fenris Cloak. Once that is done, we will negotiate the return of your friend. By the way, I suggest looking in the court of the summer fae."

With a bone-deep cracking sound, the fae king disappeared.

They only noticed once he was one that the coffin and tombstone had been destroyed, and the crown stolen from right under their noses.

Actually, come to think about it, how did he know they had a safe place to go to at the Pole?

* * *

The king of the winter fae returned to his realm regretfully. He didn't like this, didn't like this at all.

Since the previous king had been killed by assassins sent by the summer court, he couldn't go to get the cloak himself, no matter how much he wanted to. It was almost certainly in enemy territory, and he had next to zero chance of getting out again once he entered. His fae would panic and start the abductions once more, desperate to compensate for their lack of leadership with pure power.

Since they couldn't prove the fire fae had killed the last king, they couldn't declare war until the summer fae did something substantial. They couldn't search the summer court, either.

His position was tenuous enough already without adding war to the mix.

Then again, fae were pretty weird. Maybe they'd want a war.

He'd spent years trying to learn the ways of ruling, especially the ways of ruling fae. Fae had odd traditions, and he had been surprised how many of them he'd had to consciously suppress when he'd dealt with the Guardians.

Since the previous king had died and the cloak had been lost, the fae had lost control. They had panicked, certain that the summer court would attack them while they were leaderless and helpless, and had compensated with increasingly desperate feeding and searching for their new king. The spear that was now his staff had been broken, and it was feared that with only one of their three ruling relics, they would fall to ruin before they had a chance to find a new ruler. Some wondered if there would even _be_ a new ruler, without the relics.

They had accordingly been overjoyed when he showed up, and though he'd been confused at first, he had eventually come to understand that he was to rule them whether he liked it or not. He had chosen to do it on his own terms instead of being kept in a gilded cage, but there were fae who didn't approve of his unorthodox background. He had to wear a hood now, to prevent anyone from seeing his face and using his identity to track down his loved ones. Not that they could, but they might try.

After a year of learning how to control his fae, how to fix and later fight with his broken spear, and a crash course of how not to accidentally propose to someone or insult their heritage or threaten to eat their chicken farm, he'd begun trying to get to the mortal realm to consolidate his power. He wouldn't be able to safely visit his family or friends again until he was sure he wasn't endangering them, so he'd needed to grab the crown as soon as he could.

He'd found the portal, propped open with an ice shard that had gotten stuck. It had taken him almost six years and a huge chunk of power to widen the gap to allow him to slip through.

When he'd sensed the summer fae on the mortal plane, he'd had to go see what was happening. He'd found the attack and he'd been alarmed. His fae couldn't get through the portal yet, so the best he could do was distract the summer fae and get the Guardians out. He'd gotten back the crown, though, so he counted it as a victory.

Now that he had the crown back, he could send fae to anywhere cold enough on any plane, if he so chose. He could only send them to the poles on the mortal plane, since the rest of the world was rather warm, but it would have to do. He'd be able to travel more conveniently himself, as well.

His spear allowed him finer control over the ice, in addition to expanding his powers dramatically. Once he had all three relics with him, he'd be able to create 'living' ice, harder that diamond with the ability to change shape or location of he so desired. According to his teachers, he would also be able to turn things into ice and teleport to any living ice anywhere near him.

Sounded pretty convenient, really.

The cloak of Fenris was...interesting. He had no idea why it and the others were named after Norse myths, as the fae were much older than the Scandinavian cultures who had made the tales, but that was how it was.

The cloak would allow him to absorb ice and gain energy from it, and once he had all three artifacts, it would allow him to absorb his fae's energy like they absorbed mortals' energy.

Since the fae considered stealing someone's energy and turning them into one of you a great honor, they should be thrilled that he was able to-essentially-_eat_ them.

That particular aspect of fae culture was a _little_ weird.

Yep. That made him a bit uncomfortable.

He became aware of a presence watching him, but didn't turn. It wouldn't do him any good to turn and see someone invisible.

"Go with the Guardians. I know you want to, and they'll need your help and guidance. I wish you all the best. I wish I could have joined you..."

He shook his head. He _knew_ he belonged out there, fighting, playing, _getting things done!_

But he also knew that he couldn't afford to do that anymore. He had more than himself to think of now, he had an entire race depending on his safety and direction. He would do more good trapped in a realm that had kidnapped him with so many others and forced him to be king than in a realm that wanted his blood.

"Good luck, Wind," he whispered.

* * *

**So I need a beta. This is terrible and rushed, and I don't like it.**

**But...I had so much fun watching you all react, it was ridiculous. I FEED off the unhappiness of my readers. FEED ME WITH SADNESS! I DEMAND SACRIFICES!**

**Yup. You are all the best. I wish to give you brownies and ad-less youtube videos!**

**Big thanks to ArtistOfLight, who is infinitely flattering and wonderful!**


	4. Chapter 4

The Guardians, once they got over the pandemonium of the fae king's visit, immediately got ready to leave. They had to get to the missing cloak as quickly as possible. Jack was probably trapped in the fae dimension being used as a _battery_! If the fae had been kidnapping people to gain more power to compensate for the lack of leadership, like the king had said, Jack would be obscenely useful. Especially if the fae realm gave him energy faster than it could be taken from him-the king had implied as much, and Bunny could remember spending hours trying to figure out how much extra energy the kid would get from being surrounded by his element. The fae must have been desperate to get their artifacts back, if they were willing to give back such a useful source of energy.

But Jack was more than a source of energy, he was a devious little brat and a Guardian. Bunny hoped he was giving them hell. He desperately hoped the kid wasn't stuck in a giant ice block, being drained to oblivion. Jack deserved better than that.

Bunny, despite what North may think, had not been idle these past seven years. Not only did he pull off Easter every year (which _was_ more important than Christmas, and _did_ take effort, _thank you very much_), he'd also been trying to find a way back to the fae realm. Just to see what he could recover, if there was still...Jack's staff or his body or anything to put in that empty grave. But now his portal could come in handy!

He'd never gotten back to the palace of the winter fae, as the magical barriers there had adapted to their influence and resisted it much better now. But he had gotten the portal to go other places in the fae realm, and that included the summer palace. The portal was tougher now, too; it would last a whole month, and Bunny could make it last longer just by throwing another portal-globe into it.

No one would ever get stuck in the wrong plane again. No one would be trapped there and used for energy if Bunny could help it.

All that was really left to do was organize themselves to go. To be cautious, they all waited until the next day to go, so they could make sure their presences wouldn't be missed. They had no idea how long it would be until they came home, so Sandy gave pouches of his dreamsand to Tooth's fairies to pass out as they went on their rounds, and Tooth herself had put Baby Tooth in charge and made some generals to take over each continent while they were gone. As promised, the helpers were not only in their proper places, but somewhat healed from their battle wounds when Bunny and North checked. From there, it was easy enough to instruct them to take care of themselves and keep the holidays going as they should. They were putting all their eggs in one basket with this trip-if anyone attacked while they were away, their homes were defenseless-but once they got this thing, they could _have Jack back_. That was reason enough for haste.

Finally, they were all gathered at the Pole and armed to the teeth. Silently, Bunny looked each Guardian in the eye.

Sandy was grimly optimistic, and he nodded at Bunny. He was ready.

North had his coat on, but had foregone the hat because of the heat they would encounter in the summer fae plane. His swords were sheathed on his shoulders, ready for use.

Tooth had her swords as well, at her waist so they wouldn't get in the way of her wings. Her feathers bristled, and she looked determined.

Jack still wasn't there, but the wind swirled around all of them and held Sandy and Tooth aloft. They were going to get him back.

Bunny threw the oversized snowglobe. "Summer court!"

There was a swirling vortex, and as one, they all ran through.

If the winter court had been widely-spaced and regal, the summer court was overgrown and _alive_. It was practically a jungle, with twisted vines for walls and mossy grass for a floor. It was constantly growing and expanding, and you could _feel_ the movement of Life in it. It was a Life that deserved capitalization, so brilliantly and vibrantly Alive that it could not be denied. Even where there was cold, dead stone, it seemed to be living with the rest of the palace. The whole place pulsated with energy.

The grassy path led down a hill to a courtyard, which almost exactly mirrored the one in the winter court but at the same time was exactly its opposite. It was full of wildly sprouting plants and vines, all of them thorned and sharp with a wicked, cruel beauty. As the Guardians snuck into it, they saw a single fire faerie, tending to the flowers and spreading _fire_ along their roots.

As Bunny watched, it became more and more clear that the intent wasn't malicious, rather, that the fire nourished the plants, made them grow brighter and bigger and more beautiful. If he could only see what magic made these plants so special...

No, now was not the time for botany! They had to keep moving, they had a whole palace to search and the sooner they got done with this, the better. As the faerie began to fly aimlessly towards another part of the garden, Bunny silently threw a single boomerang. The faerie had no chance to prepare as Bunny's boomerang quietly whistled through the air and hit the back of the its head. Sandy's dreamsand caught it as it fell out of the air, and soon it was dreaming of cloaks and snowflakes.

"Good idea, Sandy!" Tooth whispered.

"Good idea? What are you two doing?" North asked quietly...well, asked. He'd tried to ask quietly, but North's voice was made for battle cries and booming laughs and not at all for quiet murmurs in secrecy.

Then again, Bunny suspected they were all too dynamic to be truly well-suited to subterfuge.

"If Sandy gives the faerie dreams about the Cloak, maybe we'll find out where they're keeping it!" Tooth explained excitedly.

"Tooth! Noise!" Bunny hissed at her.

"Sorry!" She cringed a little, dipping almost to the ground.

Sandy made a flag over his head and waved it, and they all quieted.

He pointed at the edge of the courtyard that Bunny thought might be eastern, if the fae plane could be said to have cardinal directions. There was a gap in the forest that was framed with vines-it must have been a door of sorts. Cautiously, they advanced to it, but the hallway was deserted.

This hallway was darker than the rest. It had more stone peeking through the thick coverings of vines, and it was darker, with flickering flames lining the edges of the hall, at the base of the walls. The change was so abrupt that they'd all looked behind them to see if they'd walked through another portal.

They crept forward, Tooth in front and Sandy bringing up the rear. The corridor was long and dark, but thankfully didn't have corners for fae to hide behind. Bunny didn't trust it one bit.

He was proven right when Tooth let out a hushed sound of alarm as the vines detached themselves from the walls and wrapped around her. The Tooth Fairy could take care of herself, though, and quickly cut them off of her before they could become too debilitating.

"Probably there are more traps. We must be careful," North rumbled to them from his spot just behind Tooth, swords at the ready. Sandy floated to the front of the line, making a little sand-fire and pointing to himself. Right! Fire wouldn't affect him until it got far hotter than normal fire could ever be. Hopefully the fae wouldn't have made fire traps hot enough to melt sand.

"Good idea, mate," Bunny murmured to him, and they eased forwards once more.

Apparently that spot was where the traps started in earnest, because the hall was chock full of them from that point on. There were spurts of fire, there were sudden water-dumps from above, a trapdoor that Bunny was ashamed to have fallen for (North had laughed when Sandy had had to make a ladder so he could get up), sudden stone spikes lunging out at them...it was truly ridiculous, how many defenses this place had. They even had to sneak past a sleeping troll-_troll_, and Bunny would like to remind the fae that trolls did not _exist_-and about a million random fae that looked to be guards. If Jack were there he would be citing Dungeons and Dragons rules and norms at them.

Well, if Jack were there, they wouldn't have to get this stupid cloak in the first place. But that wasn't the point.

Finally, after far too long of tricks and traps and overall irritation, they arrived at a simple stone holding cell. It was slightly cooler than the rest of the palace, though only slightly, and it had live coals surrounding it. It smelled of burnt flesh and melting snow, almost like a twisted, evil version of springtime.

**(A bit of graphic icky stuff here)**

Even worse than the smell was the sight. The single holding cell had one occupant, a snowy-haired teen who looked to be sleeping. He wasn't recognizable-if Bunny had ever seen him before, he wouldn't know it now. He was starved, his cheeks hollowed, and he had burns of all shapes and sizes on his face and hands, the only skin they could see. His ears were cut through and one dangled, only connected to his head by the smallest bit of cartilage. He had bags under his eyes and cuts and gashes all over, and that was the prettier parts that were left of him. His skin was so torn and abused that they could only make out that he was probably fairly pale.

**(Icky stuff done)**

Thankfully, most of the poor boy was covered in a cloak. It was a pure white cloak, unmarred by the dirt and soot in the cell, and it looked like a snowdrift had simply fallen in a heap on him. He was clutching it to him in one bony hand, the other above his head like he had been trying to guard himself even in his sleep.

Tooth gasped and fluttered forward, instinctively wanting to help but not able to get through the bars of the cell. Bunny followed and put his hand on her shoulder.

"There's nothing we can do. He's dead, Tooth." He told her. The scent of death floated off of the corpse, and Bunny was sure the cloak was the only thing keeping him from disappearing-his body was likely clinging to stasis without hope of recovery, not dead but nowhere near alive either. "I think we found the old king of the winter court."

There was a moment of silence. This was a dead, tortured stranger-probably a young man, by what they could see-who had clearly died in agony. He wasn't that much older than the children they protected.

North broke the silence. "This is being cloak, yes? We must be returning to the king so we will get Jack back."

It was grave robbing at best, but they had to get this back in order to get Jack back. Bunny shook himself and looked for the key-it was unlikely to simply be in the room with them, but he had nowhere else to look. The others joined him in his search until they heard a click.

They all looked to the cell, where Sandy was standing in front of the open door, grinning impishly and retracting his sand from the lock.

"Great! Let's get the coat and scram, I have a portal here." Bunny said. Sandy began to gently remove the cloak from the dead king, but stopped halfway through when the wind picked the body up with painstaking care. It crooned softly at the man, giving the impression of grief. Strange-none of them had known that Jack's companion had been there before now, though there had been some traps that had backfired in ways that made a whole lot more sense if the wind was there.

Still, Bunny shook his head. "He wasn't born on the mortal plane. He won't be able to get through the portal," he told the wind regretfully.

There was a pause of acknowledgment before it continued on, crying its loneliness through the halls as it cradled the man.

"Come to think of it, isn't the cloak from the fae realm, too?" Tooth asked.

"It was," Bunny realized. How were they ever going to get it home with them?

Sandy stole the globe from Bunny's hands and threw it. "Hey! What are you _doing_, Sandy?" He complained.

Sandy ignored him and the wind sent its charge through the portal. Surprisingly, the body went through. Sandy made a crown over his head, then a = sign, then pointed to the portal.

"Ah, so crown lets them go through to other realms!" North exclaimed. Sandy nodded encouragingly to him, like a teacher whose student finally got the hang of basic addition.

How did he get that from two sand shapes and a gesture? Bunny was fairly good at deciphering Sandy's shapes, but he never would have gotten that one. Maybe North had a Sandy-to-English dictionary he'd never told them about...

Regardless, they had to go. "Come on, let's get Jack back!" Bunny hopped through the portal, the others following after him.

* * *

While the Guardians were out on their quest-which he happened to 'accidentally' make easier than it really would have been under normal circumstances with the help of the wind-the fae king had been busy. He had a realm to run, after all, powers to expand, and now he had to guard the children of the mortal world as well. The Guardians had all left the entire world defenseless, apparently forgetting that the summer fae had pledged to _kill_ them. The young king's estimation of the Guardians' intelligence was plummeting.

He rose from his throne, sensing a presence outside of the throne room. He'd always had mixed feelings about this room, but he did have to use it, because it had powerful wards and he didn't want to die just yet. "Come," he called softly, and his right-hand man came in.

The man simply known as the Odinson was something of a servant and something of an advisor to the king, chosen at birth and believed to have extra power and intelligence above that of the average fae. Why the ancient Norse had used the names of the fae for their myths was beyond the king.

"Odinson," he greeted, not reacting at all to the man's presence.

"You're getting better at this," the other man acknowledged. The king grinned, letting go of his regal demeanor and running to hug his first and only friend on the fae plane.

" I had a good teacher. What have you got?"

"There are rumors of a smaller invasion, since they think the Guardians destroyed the last one alone. Our armies are still patrolling the mortal plane, and now that we have the crown back we can keep a steady supply of troops going from our world to theirs and back when needed. We can crush any small armies, though there may be losses. We can _barely_ stave off a full invasion if we need to, so I don't suggest it. The soldiers are wondering why we're helping these people, but I explained that they are allies."

Alliances are a complicated thing for fae. There are thousands of types of alliances, and a different word for each kind, but Odinson had used the word for a blood alliance. The Guardians would have no choice but to be faithful to the alliance, and the fae would be the same, because the Guardians were now considered part of each individual fae's family. A betrayal would be much more personal now, but no matter what happened, the fae would protect the Guardians and work for their better good-though that wasn't always their immediate good. Fae morals could be...odd, to residents of the mortal plane, and the fae were as likely to do what appeared to be a random act like changing your clothing colors as kill your enemies. Refusing either would result in an incredible explosion of betrayal and probably death.

"Why..._why_ did you think that was a good idea? That's a _terrible_ idea. They're going to get themselves killed in five seconds flat! Just..._why_?" The young king despaired.

His assistant chuckled. "They'll be fine. I warned the fae about their odd culture, and how it was offensive to them when we make children into fae. Unless they directly injure or kill a fae, they'll manage."

The king planted his face in his hands, groaning dramatically. His assistant expertly ignored him.

"Speaking of culture, you've made about fifteen cultural blunders I could kill you for in this conversation alone. Come on, get your king face on, we've got to go solidify your power."

Right. As soon as he was accepted as th true and rightful king, he could go home to see his family. His tight friendship with the wind helped-all kings since history began had been friends with the wind, and it was said that the previous ruler had had a particularly close friendship, so the fact that he and the wind already adored each other was reassuring.

However, it was helpful in the meantime to fight people who had proven their strength before he came along. He had put up a decent physical and magical fight before being caught and made king, but the more powerful he looked, the more his fae would trust him. They would want someone strong to take care of them. Someone smart, too, so he would have to be able to debate with the best of them even in the midst of battle.

Mentally preparing himself for the long hours ahead, he straightened up and looked as regal as he could before sweeping out of the throne room without a word.

* * *

**Bleh. Bleh bleh bleh. I had so much writers' block I almost died. But this chapter was super fun, I could draw on all my RPG knowledge! YES!**

**Also, this is by far my most popular story, and I love you all to death for that.**

**In actually important news, I people ACTUALLY OFFERED TO BETA FOR ME. Thank you so much! This chapter was beta'd and much improved by the kind and lovely Tomoyo-chan284. Round of applause to her, if you please, and we'll hope that the next chapter is much faster in coming! Thanks for all your lovely reviews!**


	5. Chapter 5

Bunny and the Guardians tumbled out of the portal, barely avoiding bumping into the corpse. They stumbled into a scene of chaos.

There were fae everywhere, winter and summer both, and Bunny swore he could see a couple who weren't affiliated with either court. They were flitting about, slicing, stabbing, freezing, melting. The north pole was a battleground.

North caught a winter fae by the arm as it passed. "What is going on here?" He boomed at it above the chaos. It chittered to itself frantically, then caught sight of the corpse still held aloft by the wind. It shook North's hand off and flew off into the crowd immediately, panicked chatters floating back to them for an instant before Bunny couldn't hear it above the din.

"What's happening?" Tooth asked another, but it too fled. Soon the winter fae had made a wide berth around the Guardians. But there was something odd about the avoidance-there were no fire fae anywhere near the Guardians, either. In fact, the winter fae seemed to be fighting them off of the Guardians. But why would they do that? Unless...

"They're still protectin' their old king," Bunny realized. The faerie that had been there earlier must have been spreading the news that the Guardians had the old king with them!

Tooth looked around. "We need to get the summer fae out of the pole, first of all. The winter fae must be defending it so they'll get their artifacts back," she decided.

"Nah, the king said he needed this cloak because they didn't respect him yet. Why would he tell them that we're getting the thing for him if he wants them to respect him? It's kind of a bad move as it is." Bunny refuted, glancing at the half-dead king and-more specifically-the cloak he still wore.

"Either way, we must defeat fae and then get Jack back! Then we will do fae politics," North grinned. Then, with a nod from each of the remaining Guardians, he ran past the dead space they occupied and into battle.

While fighting, Bunny noticed something odd. The fae had a tendency to get between him and projectiles-even at the cost of their own lives. Bunny was a second too slow ducking a sword strike, and there was a winter faerie tackling him out of the way. If he was waiting for his boomerangs to return, one faerie or another would hover around him, killing anything that dared look too long in his direction.

It appeared that the same applied to the other Guardians, as he watched Sandy and a faerie work together to cleverly trap a summer faerie in an icy block, its insect-like wings wrapped in sand. Tooth lost one of her swords dodging a fireball while stabbing a faerie, and one winter faerie gave her another sword made of ice while another winter faerie dived after the falling fire faerie to retrieve Tooth's sword. North was laughing and jumping around, having the time of his life, but there was never much distance between him and one faerie in particular, who seemed to be acting as his bodyguard. In fact, one of the fae helping Bunny was beginning to look awfully familiar. Did they all have assigned bodyguards, to make sure they survived giving the cloak to the king?

Either way, it was a small army of fire fae and a large army of their icy counterparts, and the enemies were soon driven out. As was usual after a big battle, the Guardians collected just to the side of the battleground to check up on one another and regroup. They met up by the body of the old king.

The first faerie North had grabbed was hovering there, chattering to two others. One was the current king, but the other Bunny didn't recognize. He was tall and platinum blond, with sharp, refined features-basically, he was a carbon copy of every singe other faerie. Bunny was surprised he could even tell one from the next.

The king of the fae turned to face them, dismissing one of the other faeries. "Ah. These are the Guardians. Guardians, this is the Odinson. I trust your mission went well," He greeted politely as the Guardians exchanged nods with the Odinson. He seemed to be directing his question at Bunny, so the Pooka stepped forward in response. He nodded warily.

"Yeah, we got 'im back. The wind wanted to take the body back with us."

The king looked somber from behind his hood. "He and the wind were...very close, I am told. The wind would not have left his body to rot."

North coughed. "We have given you the cloak, have we not? Where is Jack?"

The king shuffled, seeming uncomfortable, and the Odinson shifted the tiniest bit closer-a reassurance, or a preparation for a fight?

"Well?" Tooth asked, hopeful. "Where is he?"

The king shifted one last time before settling and beginning to speak. "I must warn you," he advised. "I guaranteed that your friend wasn't dead. I never promised that he was precisely as you wished him to be, or as you last saw him. I am sorry to have misled you, but...you've already seen him again."

The words were said with such finality that Bunny almost wanted to turn and leave. What could be so wrong that the king of the uncaring, cruel fae would flinch from saying it aloud?

Bunny's eyes lit on the figure behind the king, propped up by the wind.

He had even noted it when he first saw the old king of the fae-even if he'd known him for all of his life, he wouldn't have recognized him behind all the abuse he'd been through.

And technically, the old king of the fae wasn't dead. The current king could guarantee that he was alive, and guarantee that he would be returned to the Guardians, without lying.

The fae had panicked when their king had disappeared, only a little after Jack had been made a Guardian. Jack had pointed features and spent all his time flying. Jack was reluctant to talk about how he had been made into Jack Frost. Jack had insisted on going with Bunny to get the crown, citing the fact that being surrounded by winter would probably give him a boost. Was there another reason for that insistence? Had Bunny never noticed that there was another reason for all of these things?

North must have some to the same conclusion as Bunny did. "Jack would have told us...if he were the king of the fae...he _trusted_ us," he whispered hoarsely.

"I'm sorry," murmured the king, backing away from the Guardians like they were hurting him. Bunny hoped they were hurting him. He'd made them think that they were getting Jack back. He'd _lied._

"Why did he never tell us? We would have accepted that he was a faerie! We would have understood that he needed to get back to his people! Why would he have let them start kidnaping children if they were panicking over _his_ disappearance? Why wouldn't he just go home and be _safe?_ Why did he have to...why did he get caught? Why didn't the fae just let him take his own crown back?"

The king had been doing a fairly good impression of being utterly gobsmacked, considering they couldn't see his face. "No, no! That's not it, you're leaping to conclusions! I was never the fae king before now, I just-" the fae king took off his hood, flipping it down to reveal those bright-blue eyes Bunny remembered. There was a pale face there, with familiar pointed features and unruly white hair and a frustrated, expressive face with dark eyebrows.

"Jack?" Tooth gasped.

"...Hi." Jack giggled, giving an awkward little wave. "I'm...I'm kind of the fae king now. A little." He shrunk back under their gazes until he was almost hiding behind the other faerie. The Odinson frowned and stepped forward a bit, putting himself between Jack and the Guardians.

Nope. Not happening.

Bunny walked forward, reaching around the Odinson to grab Jack by the shoulder. The Odinson tensed and almost knocked his paw away, but at a motion from Jack he stepped aside.

Jack looked at Bunny, his posture closed and anxious.

"Why? We thought you _died_, and you were living it up like a king? What were you thinking?!" Bunny demanded.

"I'm sorry! I didn't want to, alright? But fifteen people tried to assassinate me in a single _month_ before I heard about the summer court's attack, I couldn't let you guys get yourselves killed!"

"You could have told us! We can take care of ourselves!" Bunny argued. Jack flinched and Bunny realized just how hard he was gripping the boy's shoulder. Still, Jack fought back.

"I was doing my best, alright? I did some things I'm not proud of, and not telling you guys was one of those things, but I needed you to be safe! You would have tried to get me to leave the fae forever, and they needed me-still do need me!"

Why would Jack mention that the fae still needed him? Unless..."You're...not coming home?" Bunny asked, bewildered.

Jack looked grim. "My people need me. If I disappear, it'll be just like when the old king died. Chaos and death. I don't want that for the mortal plane _or_ for my fae. I _have_ to keep doing my duties." Jack's eyes pleaded with Bunny to understand.

Bunny suddenly felt very cold. He understood, alright.

"You chose the _fae_ over us? Jack, they kidnaped you! They turned you into something else! No, you're _not_ going back there. I won't let you!" Bunny snarled, catching Jack by the front of his cloak and bringing him right up to look him in the eye.

"Who are you to stop me? Besides, I'm not choosing _anything_ over _anything_! I'm going _home_ to take care of the people who _need_ me!"

"You're _abandoning_ us! What about everything we all went through together? What about Pitch, and every time you helped with Easter? Are you just going to forget all of that? You're just leaving, without a real reason! You're just turning your back on us as soon as someone offers you a little power!" Bunny knew that was cruel to say, but it was _true_. Jack was leaving them behind for the _fae_. He couldn't understand why someone would leave family and comrades behind for ruthless kidnapers and murderers.

"I would never abandon what we worked for! But my people need me!" Jack insisted, trying to disengage Bunny's grip on his collar.

"_Your_ _people_ need you? The fae are monsters! They're cruel and heartless, and everyone knows it! Those aren't people!"

Bunny knew he'd hit a nerve when Jack's eyes narrowed in true fury and the king's entire body trembled. But before Jack could do anything, he was taken from Bunny's grip by the Odinaon, and Bunny remembered that the other fae and the Guardians had been there the whole time. There was a ring of fae watching silently around them.

The Odinson freed Jack from Bunny's grip with unimaginable speed, seeming to disappear one moment and reappear next to Jack a few meters away in the next. He stood protectively in front of Jack. "That is _enough!_ The king has proven his kingship and we will not tolerate this atrocious behavior towards the leader of all of the court! Am I understood?"

Bunny sneered. "And why should I care what you tolerate? You're just-"

Jack interrupted him, gently pushing the Odinson to the side once more. "I won't have you speak badly of my fae. Twice you have committed transgressions that I could rightfully have killed you for in insulting my race, and I won't have you do it a third time!" Jack slashed once through the air with his new staff-which looked nothing like his old one-and a portal opened. He said something in the language of the fae to the Odinson, who yelled it to the other fae surrounding them before leading Jack through the portal, giving a cold look to the Guardians.

The other fae gave deep bows to Bunny and pricked their hands with their swords at the other Guardians as they followed the two through the portal. Soon, drops of faerie blood littered the ground near the Guardians and the fae were gone.

Ignoring the odd behavior of the fae, Tooth whirled to face Bunny.

"Why did you do that? We just got him back, and now he's going to head off to sulk for another century!" She scolded him.

Bunny frowned. He would have though Tooth would understand. "Don't you see? He chose to stay with the fae when he could just come home! Of course I wasn't happy with him!"

North frowned. "Did Jack choose? He was saying that his people are needing him, not that he would not come back."

"But he can't..." Bunny paused. Actually, if he was the king, Jack could probably move between planes as much as he wanted. He'd said that he had to prove his kingship, and the Odinson had mentioned something along those lines, but now that he had everything he'd said he needed, maybe he could come back without jeopardizing his position.

In fact, when he'd asked them to get the cloak for him, he'd said that once he'd gotten it, he'd be able to see his family again. Jack didn't have a human family anymore, so logically that could mean that either he had a family on the fae plane before becoming king-unlikely, he probably would have been made king immediately after being captured or never been made king at all-or the Guardians.

Jack had intended to come back. Not permanently, but he had intended to...visit or something, Bunny didn't know. He hadn't wanted this to be a permanent separation.

Well, now Bunny felt like a jerk.

"We have to get him back. Bunny, you have to apologize." Tooth ordered.

He hung his head, cowed. "Yeah."

"He'll be back soon, he's only making sure none of his subjects are present for it. He would have a hard time explaining what had happened while preventing your atrocious cultural missteps." A voice explained from directly behind the Guardians.

They whirled to face him at once, and saw the Odinson standing behind them, giving them each individually the driest look they'd ever seen.

"When will he come to here?" North asked of the Odinson.

The Odinson got a vacant look on his face for a moment. When he refocused, he replied, "He'll be here soon. He's sorting out the fae, and he has to get the grapevine going-we don't gather everyone togther to make announcements. We just spread rumors and everyone knows what's going on."

That was...strange, and seemed inefficient, but the Guardians let it slide-there were more important things to know than the fae's methods of spreading information.

"Why did everyone bow at Bunny and bleed at the rest of us as they left? It seems like they would be angrier that we were fighting against Jack, if he was their king." Tooth asked. "And why did they follow us around during the fight? For that matter, why were you even here in the first place? And can't you just...revive the old king and have him rule instead?"

The Odinson laughed. "You're not very familiar with the fae, I see. The king has declared that each of you is to be considered his family, and in fae culture, that means that you're family of everyone with a lower rank than his-which means everyone. They protected you because that is what family does, and we've been keeping our army patrolling your realm since that announcement, to make sure no one attacks your children while you're away.

"Why they said their goodbyes to you in the ways that they did is actually fairly simple. Their blood welcomed you into the family and wished to join you, so they set it free. Bunny showed his closeness with Jack by fighting with him, so they felt they had to respect him more. No one can fight so viciously and not care for each other, somehow.

"Finally, the dead king will never regain his soul. Fae can give up their souls in order to escape when death will not take them, but they can never be revived. Tradition dictates that he will be absorbed for his power into the rest of the fae, and the new king will continue to rule."

One part of that explanation bothered Bunny. Well, many parts, especially the part where it was implied that the fae would use their old king for energy and there was nothing wrong with that, but only one part of the explanation wasn't explainable solely by fae being fae. "We don't have any children," he protested.

The Odinson looked puzzled. "Yes you do, the children you are Guardians of are yours. Jack himself was a child before you made him one of you. I can only suppose that all children are yours, but many of them escape your grasp by growing old before you can take them,"

"Er, no mate, we don't kidnap people. Jack was made a spirit because of...something he did, or his personality or something. I don't know."

"Actually, it was because I saved my sister, but then I died before the transformation was complete. I became a spirit anyway...somehow...I'm not too sure of the details on that." Jack's voice came from behind them.

"Would you stop doing that? Is it a fae thing, you all have to appear behind people and give them a heart attack before any real conversation can happen?!" Bunny exclaimed, frazzled. Just how many times in the past few days had someone just conveniently appeared behind them?

Jack laughed brightly. "Maybe it is. Maybe it should be," he replied, flashing them all a charming grin.

Tooth gave Bunny a Look and he remembered suddenly that he was supposed to be begging forgiveness. "Look, frostbite, I'm sorry about-"

"No, no, it's fine. You thought I was going to leave the Guardians behind for the fae, it was a fair response. Goodness knows if our positions had been reversed I would have frozen you to the ground." Jack swung his new scepter over his shoulder, looking exactly like he always had...but different, somehow. Older. More relaxed, less flighty.

Bunny was confused for just a moment before it dawned on him.

Jack had matured.

He still kept his casual bearing, he still delighted in surprising them, but he was more confident, surer of the world and his place in it. He moved with his usual easy grace, but it was refined now, less of a wild thing that had consented to be tame and more of a man relaxing with friends at the end of the day.

Bunny hated to admit it, hated it with the deepest hate his soul could conjure up, but the fae might have been good for Jack. Perhaps he had needed that time away, surrounded by people who had never abandoned him, to be able to gain this peace with the people who had.

He tugged Jack into a hug anyway. Jack may have needed some time, but Bunny was just happy he'd come home in the end.

"I thought you were dead, mate. _Never_ do that again."

Jack yelped as he stumbled into Bunny, but relaxed and dropped his staff in favor of hugging Bunny back.

"No more dying," he promised. "I'm sticking around for good." Bunny would be damned if either of them ever mentioned the moisture brimming in both of their eyes. He was a warrior and Jack was a king, and warriors and kings did _not_ cry.

Sometimes people did, though, and Jack and Bunny were both people. As Sandy did his absolute best to hug the both of them, and then Tooth, and then North, Bunny felt like that might be okay.

The Odinson let out an indignant squawk as the wind pushed him into the pile of Guardians, and Jack laughed, and Bunny felt like laughing, too.

Finally, everything was perfect.

_We won! Good game!_

* * *

**Whew! It's been fun. I hope you guys have enjoyed this as much as I have, because I had so much fun with it. Especially the parts where y'all thought everyone died. Tell me honestly, how many of you thought for a second I actually did make Jack the old fae king?**

**I've loved the journey, thanks you guys!**


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